According to the Toronto Star, you will soon be able to play down your Ontario Student Loans with your (or maybe a relative’s) Aeroplan miles. The exchange rate is currently pegged at about 7/10 of a cent for each mile cashed in (the example given was 35000 points becomes a $250 payment). While I applaud the ability to help pay down the ballooning Student Debts in Canada, couldn’t I have just done this with my Amex Cash back Card, or my PC Financial Mastercard? I am not sure if this is a good rate of transfer or not, but if a student has a “Sugar Relative” heavily laden with Aeroplan points, maybe they could get some help?

Father’s Day

Early Happy Father’s Day (Fathers’ Day) to all the Dads out there. It used to be that Father’s Day was the day when the most collect long distance calls were made, not sure what the 21st century version of that factoid might be. My Dad passed on a few years ago, but the things he taught me keep him with me always. The scary part of Father’s Day is realizing I am a Father as well.

To my Muslim readers, Ramadan is here. For folks in Canada this is going to hurt, because now we have the longest days of the year, so you are going to have to work hard on your fasting during the day. Eid is coming, but not for a while.

KPMG says we should stop the Canada Savings Bonds program? Remember that most of the Bonds these days are held by folks over the age 60 (OK, that is a guess on my part) but those are also the folks that remember when bonds had interest rates of 19% (yes that was 35 years ago, but you never know).

My Writings for Week Ending June 19th

No more Hockey or Basketball, guess it is Rugby, Formula 1, Soccer, and catching up on series I missed in the Winter season :

To start the week off, I published some notes I made up for an interview with the Toronto Star (that has disappeared into the ether from what I can tell), with Really Useful RESP Tips, I am available for interviews, Frat Parties, Bar Mitzvahs, and Weddings(check the About menu for details).

Money for Nothing, not really…

Mark over at the Blunt Bean Counter comes back to his discussions about Holding Companies, which control Operating companies, and wants us to know about Issues to Remember with Holding Companies. If you didn’t quite get where Mark was going with Holding Companies, maybe you need to work on your Financial Literacy, and Barry from Money We Have, wants you to Improve Your Financial Literacy, as well. Speaking of financial literacy, Gail Vaz-Oxlade must be hitting the highlights when she only talks about 5 Reasons Budgeting Fails (there are plenty more than 5).

Mark from 2nd Career Search continues to educate us about living in the U.S. if you are getting close to retirement, and he hits another interesting topic, that Canadians might not understand, US Seniors and the Medicare Maze. We may have slow medical care, but it might get better? Speaking of the US, the Canadian Dollar continues to weaken against the almighty American Dollar, and Mark from My Own Advisor queries What Can Investors Do About a Weakening Loonie? Don’t buy American? Should you invest your Emergency Fund? Our big Fat Wallet has some ideas about Putting Your Emergency Cash to Work .

Fitbit had their IPO and they seem to be a new stock market darling, we shall see whether they have the staying power to last, or whether they are the next Pet.com. They haven’t come out with the Financial Fit Bit (yet). If you are trying to stay away from individual stocks, the Canadian Couch Potato updates up on Vanguard’s VXC ETF which has had a Facelift, a good ETF for those looking to invest outside of Canada.

People’s expenses and spending decline in retirement, is a common mistake folks make in planning their retirement, and Michael James kind of snaps on the topic with Crappy Retirement. The best time to start control your expenses and spending is long before you retire, so that you don’t continue your lifestyle creeping when you have a fixed (if not diminishing) income.

What is Your Net Worth ?

Preet is back and helping us figure out if we are worthless? Oh, sorry, your net worth:

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Hi BCM
On the question of the CSB’s, why does the government not offer the same rate on CSB’s as what is paid to borrow from the banks (or whoever)?
After all, is it not us, we the people, who are paying the interest on the loans.
So just pay the people the same going rate in effect at the issue date and I bet there would be a lot of CSB hoarders.